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BritCan Entertainment
BritCan Entertainment, Inc. (formerly BritCan Communications, LLC.) is an American multinational media conglomerate headquartered at BritCan Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and owned by Kandanal Entertainment. Emerging in the late 1980s, the company currently operates in the media and entertainment industries, spanning across film, television, and cable networks. The company was formed in 1989 as the BritCan Media Entertainment Group by founder and namesake Emanuella "Ellie" Brittany-Candace. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the many giants in the entertainment industry, and was once the second-largest entertainment company in the world by revenue. As of 2009, most of BritCan's assets include the mini-major film studio Aquasphere Pictures and its respective Motion Picture Group, and the Entertainment Television Group. In late 2008, Kandanal Entertainment announced its plans to acquire BritCan for $49.2 billion. The proposed merger and sale were completed on January 14, 2009, and the merger closed on April 24, with the company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Kandanal. Units * Aquasphere Pictures Motion Picture Group ** Aquasphere Pictures ** Embassy Films * BritCan Entertainment Television Group ** BritCan Television Networks Unit *** BritCan Television *** BritCan NewsNow (also part of News Group) *** BritCan Reality *** BritCan Crime ** BritCan General Entertainment Networks Unit *** TravestyTV *** Spectacle *** Reel **BritCan News Group ***BritCan NewsNow ***BritCan Business **Bonzai Television Networks, LLC. ***Bonzai Network ****Bonzai Network Studios ****Studio B, Inc. ***BonzaiToons Network ***Bonzai Jr. Channel ***Bonzai XTRM (online only) Corporate history Early history (1970s-1990s) In the 1970s, Emanuella "Ellie" Brittany-Candace, who at the time was the owner of a highly successful internet startup company, purchased a small Ultra High Frequency station that struggled in its years. By carefully creating a plausible schedule, and renaming it to WEBC, Ellie lead the small channel to victory. Ellie's newly gained profit and revenue from WEBC lead her to purchase a large area of land, build, and open up the BritCan Media Entertainment Group on October 9, 1989. For the next 10 years, BCMEG would go on to produce local and syndicated programs for broadcast television networks such as PBS, NBC, and Fox. Formation of Television Group (2000-07) The company's namesake and flagship brand, BritCan Television, launched on satellite providers on January 5, 1998, and would launch several spin-offs; BritCan Two launched in 2001 as a secondary service featuring its own schedule of programming and was followed afterwards with respective launches of reality-based network BritCan Three in 2002 and crime-investigation channel BritCan Four in 2007. Bonzai Network launched in 2000 as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment catering towards family audiences. Initially struggling, the channel's success led to the creation of three 24/7 digital offshoots: Bonzai+ (launched in 2001), BonBon (launched in 2005), and BNX (launched in 2004). All were rebranded under the Bonzai moniker in 2014. In 2002, Reel was launched as a botched attempt to compete with other premium movie channels such as HBO and Starz, but would later become the foundation for a trio of networks which included Reel, Laugh Out Loud! (now TravestyTV), and SpectacleTV (now Spectacle). On December 31, 2007, all of BritCan's television services were consolidated into one division, the BritCan Communications Cable Entertainment Group. Merger with Aquasphere Pictures and Kandanal era (2008-present) After months of rumors, BritCan officially announced that it would acquire the rights to several films from the mini-major film production and distribution studio Aquasphere Pictures on February 13, 2008. Four months later, on June 3, BritCan assumed full ownership of the company from its previous owner Valencia and Trade, Co. and absorbed its various libraries into its properties. In November 2008, newspaper and publishing company Kandanal Entertainment announced its plans to buy BritCan Communications at an estimated cost of $49.2 billion; a record which wouldn't be broken until 2017, when The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion. The acquisition was structured so that both companies shared each others properties, in this case BritCan would oversee digital distributions of newspapers such as The Nova Gazette. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 14, 2009 and on April 24, BritCan officially became property of Kandanal's assets. On September 28, 2009, the company underwent a major rebranding to reflect on its upcoming 20th anniversary, featuring a new universal logo for all of its brands and subcompanies created by Red Bee Media. In 2011, the company began several mobile marketing vehicles, such as a partnership with news aggregator Flipboard to provide content for its BritCan News division, as well as investing in an Internet-only television channel, now known as BritCan Business. On March 26, 2018, a strategic reorganization of the company led to several new changes. The company was renamed as BritCan Entertainment, as well as its several divisions; the Cable Entertainment Group was renamed the Entertainent Television Group, and the Multinational Networks group was renamed to the International Networks group. In addition, Bonzai Network, its respective sister channels, its international counterparts, and its online and digital services were handed over to Bonzai Television Networks. Category:Television companies Category:BritCan Communications Category:Companies